Saturday, November 22, 2014

Window on Eurasia: ‘Americans are Prepared to Die for Latvia,’ Nuland Says

Paul
Goble

Staunton, November 22 – When the
Ukrainian crisis began, some commentators in the West suggested that NATO would
not in the end fight to defend the Baltic countries even though the latter are
full members of NATO by asking “who is prepared to die for Narva?” But now a
senior US State Department has given a clear and unequivocal answer: Western
countries are.

During a visit
to Latvia this week, Victoria Nuland, US assistant secretary of state for
European and Eurasian affairs, said that “when NATO and the US as part of NATO
took new members into the alliance, this means that we are ready to participate
in the defense of the security of these countries, and this means that we are
ready to give our lives for the security of these countries” (lsm.lv/ru/statja/politika/novosti/viktorija-nuland-rossija-dolzhna-sdelat-vibor.a107109/).

That is why there are young American
soldiers in Latvia now, she continued, suggesting that there should be “absolute
clarity” that if someone attacks Latvia, we will be here to help defend Latvia”
because “no one has the right to shoot at Latvia because no one has the right
to shoot at the territory of NATO.”

In other comments, Nuland said that the
sanctions the West had imposed on Russia were having an effect, “unfortunately”
on the Russian people as well as the regime. But she said that the reason for
that lies “in the actions of the Russian government” and not in the ill
intentions of the West. If Russia lives up to its commitments on Ukraine, the
West will lift the sanctions.

The assistant secretary added that “not
only Americans but all people who consider themselves part of the North
Atlantic space, including the European Union, are extremely disappointed by
Russian actions which have undermined the territorial integrity of Ukraine,”
actions that have continued “even after the signing of the Minsk accords.”

Russia has continued to send “arms
and fighters to Ukraine,” Nuland said, and now “Russia must make a choice”
about what kind of a future it will have.